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Cyberwar on NASA Websites
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Sun Jul 30, 2006 10:18 AM
from the politics-and-cybercrime dept.
from the politics-and-cybercrime dept.
Vexorian writes "Two NASA websites were hacked today by a group of Chilean activist hackers. The reason was to protest against the war on Lebanon. The mirror of the defaced site contains an image of an injured child and claims that the sites were running MacOSX."
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And now... (Score:4, Insightful)
On the one hand, this is news; NASA is a big target. On the other hand, why are we posting a link to the defacement? We don't need to see it -- just report the story.
Look, I seriously doubt you're going to find that many people who think the war in Lebanon is a good thing, besides anyone with a vendetta against the Lebanese or the people selling bombs and rockets. You want to protest the war, fine -- but don't exepct me to care what you have to say when you can't make your voice heard in a public and legal forum. Defacing a website, any web site, is not the way to make me feel sympathy for your point of view.
Re:And now... (Score:4, Insightful)
We don't particularly need not to see it. So, why not?
Parent
Re:Tough call... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:And now... (Score:3, Insightful)
Their own website?
Re:And now... (Score:3, Insightful)
This is entirely the issue. If the government punishes and hides dissident remarks, then the people will find a platform for their voice.
Here in the UK (sorry I started my last post like this, but its where I am), the vast majority opposed the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. When Iraq kicked off, a MILLION people marched. For a small island, that's a lot of people marching. And yet Tony the Marvellous still blundered off, on the coat tails of Bush. What are we supposed to do? How are the people su
Re:And now... (Score:4, Insightful)
And Israel has done the same to Lebanon. Remember, Hezbollah only EXISTS because of Israel's invasion of Lebanon decades ago. They reap what they sow.
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Re:And now... (Score:5, Informative)
Let's all be honest. Blame Italy. It is all their fault.
If ROME had not invaded Israel and destroyed the temple none of this would have happened.
Damn Italians.
Anybody that thinks that they state who is to blame and who is right and who is wrong in just a few sentances doesn't know what they are talking about. I sure can't say who is right and who is wrong. I lean towards Israel in this case just on motivation. Israel wants to stop attacks on people in Israel. Hezbollah wants to kill as many people in Israel as they can. Even that is just a guess. Like I said I don't know who is too blame. I only know who is suffering.
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Why is this news? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why is this news? (Score:3, Insightful)
OS X hacked or the Web Application (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:OS X hacked or the Web Application (Score:5, Informative)
According to TFA it was an SQL Injection attack.
As much as OSX on a server is a contradiction of terms at the best of times, this wasn't an OS level exploit.
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Re:OS X hacked or the Web Application (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, I did OS X administration for almost a year.
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Re:OS X hacked or the Web Application (Score:4, Informative)
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NASA (Score:5, Funny)
I don't get it.. (Score:3, Insightful)
since when did NASA of all government agencies have to do with a war in lebanon.
It seems to me like theyre doing the cyber equivalent to nasa that isrealis are doing to lebanese civillian centers.
stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid....
Chicago, this ain't. (Score:5, Insightful)
just shelled their places of business and damn the consequences...
Again, a non-workable analogy. The people smuggling whiskey and evading taxes in the 30's weren't launching missles from Chicago into Toledo, or proclaiming that only the destruction of Illinois is acceptable to them. They didn't randomly kill women and children, year after year, just to stoke things up (they just killed each other in a turf war over the smuggling market and related "industries").
The mafia wasn't a militant front for an oil-rich retrograde fascist theocracy that was shipping them millions of bucks and thousands of missiles.
It doesnt make sense to use millitary weaponry when surgical strikes on the ground would get things done.
If the Israelis stopped using precision weapons, you'd see the civilian deaths in the areas where Hezbollah keeps parking their weapons and launchers go from a few hundred to thousands and thousands over night. You do understand that you can't just march Israeli troops back into all of Lebanon and surgically remove Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure from the middle of the civilian presence in which they hide without an enormous invasion, right? It takes a gigantic supply chain, tons of armour, and thousands of soldiers - and it would take months and months, and many more Israeli deaths, which is exactly what Hezbollah would like to force them to have to do.
Hezbollah has had an uninterrupted six years to build bunkers, to booby-trap and mine their weapons storage sites, and to make sure that their personnel are woven completely into the fabric of the civilian population of Lebanon. Israel is being smart, and taking out the tools Hezbollah will need to re-supply themselves with weapons. Eventually they will run out, or Iran will have to more clearly show their hand by visibly pushing new weapons into the area by air - and they don't want to have that light shown on them just now. In the meantime, when Hezbollah pops out of a basement with a missle launcher, Israel hits that spot immediately, to destroy the cache that's there. They have no choice, other than to just tolerate more missles raining down on Haifa and beyond.
Parent
Stupid activists (not a flame here.) (Score:5, Insightful)
If anything, these protestors should thank Israel for taking action now and preventing more carnage later. One cannot constantly procrastinate in this kind of a situation, because it is only getting worse.
Oh yes, and how about protesting where it actually makes sense: at Hizballah, at Lebanese, Iranian and Syrian governments. Protesting against regimes that allow terrorists to do what they do: use civilians AND UN folks as living shields on the battlefield. Not only are civilians used as shields, they are a great propaganda tool. When a terrorist launches a rocket at civilian targets in Israel from a busy market place in Lebanon, and Israeli army answers with fire at that place, is it the responsibility of Israel to make sure that Lebanese civilians do not suffer or is it responsibility of those, who used the civilians for their political gain around the world?
Here are a couple [apazhe.net] of caricatures [solomonia.com] that do tell something about the reality of this war.
Re:Stupid activists (not a flame here.) (Score:4, Insightful)
BBC: You know you are killing innocent people?
IDF General: We are currently targetting Hizballah areas where they store rockets and fire into Israel. We told all civilians to leave many times.
BBC: Yeah but why kill innocent people?
IDF General: Why are innocent people next to Hizballah rocket installations?
BBC: But.. you can't..
IDF General: This is the fundamental difference between Israelis and Lebonense. Israelis are currently sleeping in bomb shelters. Lebonese are sleeping with bombs.
BBC: *Silence*
Parent
Re:Stupid activists (not a flame here.) (Score:3, Insightful)
There is no way they had to cause $60 billion dollar damage to the lebanese infrastructure, because they wanted to destroy some Hezbollah installations.
Re:Stupid activists (not a flame here.) (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Stupid activists (not a flame here.) (Score:5, Insightful)
Obviously not, considering all the things you ignore in your post.
How about years and years of killing that have been going on in Israel by Hizballah and Hamas terrorist organizations?
About as many years as Israel has been occupying territory outside its borders while disregarding its responsibilities as occupying power. Read carefully, I am not saying that they occupied territory for no good reason, but that once they did, they did not manage it in a way that was anywhere helpfull in solving the situation, and in some cases in direct violation of international law and treaties that Israel is a party to.
Before that it was a bunch of Arab nations that thought to drive Israel into the sea (with said occupation as the result).
The issue here is that the people living in those territories got a war on their doorstep without asking for it, and have since suffered mostly from Israelian military actions and irresponsible administration of their territories. It is absolutely no wonder they support anyone who seems to be able to act against this (even if such action works against them in the longer term, living in a war zone makes you think about today and maybe tomorrow, but not much further, which is a tendency people have already anyway)
You may not remember this, but when Israel entered Southern Lebanon for the first time in the late 70s, they were hailed by the Shia population there as liberators because of them trying to get the PLO out. It only took a few years to reverse that situation however, not the least due to Israel refusing to control its proxy militia in South Lebanon (the South Lebanese Army). Israel did not create Hezbollah as such, but they are the ones responsible for it finding a lot of grassroots support among the South Lebanese people and having developed into what it is now.
How about all those rockets that were launched at Israel from Lebanon within the past two decades?
Many aimed at population centers with the aim to kill or wound civilians. Absolutely unacceptable.
But how about taking an action that you know to have virtually zero chance of success and actually a high likelyhood of worsening the problem (and with history telling a clear lesson about this) that risks the life of many civilians? This is what Israel is doing in Lebanon today, again.
Maybe a UN server should be hacked, after all after 2000 UN and Lebanon was responsible for keeping Hizballah from amassing rockets and other weapons. Do these activists care when during the 'peace times' Israeli kids and adults get blown up?
Actually, they do. Thank political games from various parties involved (including, but definitely not limited to Israel) for the situation on the ground.
If anything, these protestors should thank Israel for taking action now and preventing more carnage later. One cannot constantly procrastinate in this kind of a situation, because it is only getting worse.
Acting in a way that has repeatedly shown to worsen the situation however is stupid, and when it causes damage on the scale the current actions in Lebanon are doing, it also does not deserve support, no matter how justified you believe Israel is in defending itself.
Of course hacking NASA websites is not exactly a good way to make an opinion known, regardless of what the opinion is.
Parent
Re:Stupid activists (not a flame here.) (Score:4, Insightful)
We can argue, whether Israel is right for reacting somehow to the Hezbollah provocation. We CANNOT argue, that what Israel is doing now is not solving anything, given an average person's intelligence and given basic facts.
There is no military solution to the middle east crisis, except a nuclear war. There is only a sociological/political solution.
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Re:Stupid activists (not a flame here.) (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure we can. You because YOU say we can't, doesn't mean anything. Especially what you judge has "basic facts". You need to read beyond whatever you've been reading.
Hezbollah is dragging the civilian population of Lebanon into this by hiding amongst them, and rocketing Isreal as they do it. They set up next to those UN peacekeepers, they've kept some Lebanonese people from getting out of their homes in the south when those people try and leave. They've built tunnels back INTO Israel carry on this war.
This is part of their whole gameplan. That IS a fact. The only way to disarm them is militarily. They're not going to go willingly, and they're certainly not just going to give up all those missiles that Syria has been supplying.
Parent
They did NOT hack OS X (Score:5, Informative)
I'm not saying OS X is unhackable, but leaving ANY insecure server software running is asking to be hacked.
Spiral of Escalating Violence (Score:5, Insightful)
Chileans vandalizing America when Israel attacks Lebanon doesn't change anyone's minds for the better. It just escalates by a little bit the spiral of violence:
Ignorance -> Fear -> Anger -> Violence -> Alienation -> Ignorance
The central front in the Terror War is in our own minds, where that well-worn cycle can send us all to our doom.
South Americans? Arabs? Whats the difference (Score:4, Insightful)
It makes perfect sense that the hackers came from south america and not an arab country. My own government (the UK) is way ahead in removing that particular distinction [wikipedia.org]
Seriously though, the reason they hit NASA was because they could. They almost certainly scanned through all US government sites for a vunerability they could exploit, and NASA just happened to have one.
Also, you should be thanking them for this. This form of protest hurts exactly nobody. A sysadmin gets some extra overtime, thats all. If you guys didn't have contempt for peaceful forms of protest like this, perhaps people wouldn't feel the need to murder thousands of you just to get your attention.
Re:South Americans? Arabs? Whats the difference (Score:5, Insightful)
Someone sets off nail bombs in pubs just because the occupants happen to be gay, thats terrorism.
A guy gets on a bus with a dynamite waistcoat and wipes out a load of commuters, thats terrorism.
Some prick hijacks a jet and flies in into a skyscraper full of people, thats terrorism.
Fucking up somebodies webserver? Not even close.
Parent
Re:Oh, those wacky Arabs! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Oh, those wacky Arabs! (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Oh, those wacky Arabs! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I, for one... (Score:4, Insightful)
Although some say that only active protesting works, I'm sure they didn't mean to sit on your chair and "h4x0r" some sites. Actually it's pretty sad to see one defacing websites in name of "peace and justice". It also concerns when someone say thats hacktivism, as it can create a bad impression about legit hacktivism activities (such as providing privacy for people in China, etc.).
Parent
Re:Doesn't make sense (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Doesn't make sense (Score:3, Insightful)
This is an unprovoked serious act of war, by a people who have repeatedly and openly sworn to d
Re:Doesn't make sense (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Doesn't make sense (Score:4, Insightful)
So, in your mind, anything critical of the policies of Israel is anti-semitism. Because that is what you have written. The Israeli people are no different from the palestine or lebanese people: Mother Theresa and that serial killer Manson belong to the same human race. There is of course ideology flung around, but labeling all arabs as being part of a death cult is "anti-arabicanism". If you think that anti-semitism is bad, then why do you exercise "anti-arabicanism"? The sole reason I put quote marks around that phrase, is because it is not even in common use to describe a behaviour that is exhibited in your own post.
I don't think the Israelis are doing what they must. I think they keep voting in politicians that act as if they and only they could protect them from a not lifethreatening (on a national scale) enemy (doesn't that sound familiar?). What the Israelis need to do is vote for less comforting, less "black-and-white" world viewed politicians, who can do their best to solve the problems on the middle east. While it might not look so good, because there are many compromises to be reached, both the israelis and palestinian/lebanese people would end up safer. If history ended up teaching something, is that unilaterialism end up in empires, and that empires fall.
Parent
Re:Doesn't make sense (Score:3, Insightful)
I can understand trying to stop the rockets firing into their territory -- but destroying civil infrastructure (power plants, roads, etc) and persistently executing poorly-targeted attacks with substantial civilian casualties is no way to do that.
The Lebanese government is in enough trouble as it is, having a radical group (Hezbollah) executing attacks on their neighbors against the government's whim. Getting civilian support for that radical group (by demonizing t
Disproportionality (Score:3, Insightful)
Disproportionality is the only way to deal with terrorists. The border was peaceful until the Hezbullah incursion. If I were an Israeli I would not relish the prospect of being terrorised forever at an ever more lethal intensity. I would want to irradicate the problem. As for civilians, they were given fair warning to leave the area and go to central Lebanon were they would not
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:5, Insightful)
What are you talking about? They withdrew from Gaza, yes, but since then have blocked anything and anyone from entering or leaving. There is no economy, no money flow, no medicine flow, nothing going into Gaza. Yes, Israelis left, but they completely choked it up.
As for the West Bank, when did Israel withdraw from there? Most of the West Bank is currently occupied by huge Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land (as per the Oslo accords). There are also the ultra-orthdox Jewish settlers who create new "settlements" on Palestinian farmland by terrorizing its owners then erecting makeshift homes and shoot anybody who comes close. The Israeli government is trying to dismantle those, but at the same time expanding their other "legal" settlements by annexing more Palestinian land. Not to mention the completely illegal wall that is eating up even more Palestinian farm land.
They gave the terrorists everything they asked for and complied with every request the UN made.
Really? They definitely did not give back Jerusalem. They definitely did not allow UN peace inspectors into Gaza and the West Bank, and thanks to the US, they do not have any binding UN sanctions against them because of the American veto.
Stop pretending that Israel is the perfect peace loving nation. Israel does not want peace, because peace is not in its favour.
Parent
Re:more proof of a foriegn policy failure (Score:3, Insightful)
staggering that in such a short time the US has gone from loved to hated
This may break your heart to hear, but the US has never been loved by much of the world, ever. Unless, of course, those people dancing in the streets on 9/11 were, you know, doing it out of love.
Re:more proof of a foriegn policy failure (Score:4, Interesting)
So, in this context, it is true that the US has gone from loved to hated in the span of 17 days. Everything that has happened since the beginning of the war has strengthened the radical elements of the Lebanese government (like it or not, Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese gov't and represents 45% of the population). Every civilian killed was proof that everything that the radicals have been saying about the "Zionists" and the "Imperialist American Dogs" was true.
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Re:more proof of a foriegn policy failure (Score:4, Informative)
Actually there was one Muslim country that had a candle light vigil for the US after the bombings of 9/11.
http://groups.colgate.edu/aarislam/response.htm [colgate.edu]
Funny that our so called allies (Saudi's, Kuwaiti's, etc) didn't give a rats ass what happened to us.
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Re:more proof of a foriegn policy failure (Score:5, Insightful)
Look, the fact that a bunch of people in the middle east go around burning American flags should not suprise you. What should be worrying is the fact that one of your closest allies now thinks you guys are power-mad and dangerous. I don't think either Japan or the UK will help you in your next war.
You seem to think that one either loves the U.S. unconditionally, or you hate it absolutely like those guys celebrating 9/11, and that there is no changing of opinions. The fact is, most of the world is not extreme and set in their ways like that, and your actions do have an effect on how they percieve you. Your administration has been pushing people away from liking you, so you might want to reconsider your actions.
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more proof of a troll's idiocy (Score:5, Insightful)
what with the shooting of Jews in chicago yesterday
Do you actually read the news, or just go with what you're told? The shooting was in Seattle - a very different place from Chicago. And Jews have been at the bottom of some people's "favorite peoples" list for centuries - I doubt our foreign policy could really ever change that in just a few years.
The world is not nearly as petty a place as some would like to think it is. Bush hasn't helped, sure, but anti-US sentiment has been building for years. We rule the world, but spend outlandish amounts on shopping trips and vacations to countries whose people can barely afford basic food and shelter. Then, when something happens to our own, we can't take care of them either.
We'd be a whole lot better off is more Americans would stop using Bush as a scapegoat (again, he might be a good one, but that's not the point) and started changing the way they actually lived - cut back on energy consumption, buy a hybrid or use public transit, demand true equality in civil services and protection in poor neighborhoods/regions, and quit mouthing off on the Internet complaining about your government when the House has something ridiculous like a 98% re-election rate.
We don't take responsibility for our own actions - and when something goes right, take responsibility whether it was our doing or not. That's why people hate us.
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Re:Here goes... (Score:4, Insightful)
You're an idiot who has been thoroughly taken by the terrorist propaganda. As someone previously mentioned, an IDF general put it best: "Israelis are sleeping in bomb shelters. Lebanese are sleeping with bombs."
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Re:Here goes... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Here goes... (Score:3, Informative)
Hezbollah had been making rocket attacks on Israeli cities before the Israelis began their bombing campaign (and later invasion) of south Lebanaon. I refer you to a timeline of the current crisis [wikipedia.org]. They did escalate their attacks after the Israeli response.
Beyond the scope of the current conflict, Hezbollah has been firing rockets at Israeli on and off for some time now; for example, see this story from Dec. 2005 [un.org]
Re:Here goes... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Here goes... (Score:4, Interesting)
When a foreign nation like the USA takes down an Arab government like Iraq there is the same sense of humiliation. That the Arab world was itself unable to take down a brutal dictator but also in the post-war occupation they are unable to govern its people. However when a group like Hezbollah is able to stand up to Israel, even though Hezbollah is a Shiite group, the Arab street is overwhelming in favor of those who they perceive as standing up to foreign aggression. At the same time they criticize their leaders for not taking a similar stand.
The Arab world is desperate for some sort of success, be it military or political and are willing to cheer on even the most insidious of organizations. The longer this conflict goes on, the more civilians who die and the more Hezbollah holds out the more radicalized the Arab world will become.
I think the Bush administration is right in that we should invest in democracy, freedom and economic prosperity in the Middle East. This is the long term strategy that will provide peace in the region. However it can only come through political action. A military strategy will only be ferociously resisted by the Arab world.
Parent
Re:Here goes... (Score:5, Insightful)
I feel sorry for the Lebanese, as they are not really responsible for Hezbollah attacks (besides not taking action against them, anyway). However, the Israelis have leafletted the areas in question, and any civilians who remain in the area after that are either supporting the terrorists themselves, or willing to risk the lives of their own families to stay. In fact, the children who have been injured or killed are victims of their parents and Hezbollah, not Israel.
A nation should not have to endure endless kidnappings of their soldiers/citizens without taking action. Your attempt to compare Israel to the U.S. above shows your ignorance of the situation. A true comparison would be if Ontario was hosting a terrorist group which *regularly* fired rockets, employed suicide bombers, and kidnapped people from the border area and demanded the release of known murderers in exchange for the lives of the kidnapped people. Then, after the exchange (Israel at one point did exchange prisoners, for as little as the remains of the dead) continued to fire rockets, bomb, and kidnap more U.S. citizens. Meanwhile, Canada showed no interest in taking care of the problem themselves, and in fact were terrorized by the same group, but unable to oust them.
That would be apples to apples, except that there would be no Jews to blame. Don't worry though, I'm sure you could come up with some way to justify the terrorist actions, and oh the poor children, what are we doing to the children!
Vidar
Parent
Lessons from Northern Irish IRA (Score:4, Insightful)
Nice soundbite, it makes it sound like the children are complicit in missle launches, but of course they were just innocent victims. Did they choose or even know who was next door? You are using the vague phrase 'Lebanese citizens' to try to blanket transfer blame from SOME terrorists to A WHOLE COUNTRIES POPULATION.
This strategy can never work. Consider the case of the IRA in Northern Ireland. We faced their bombs regularly in Britain, yet we never did anything so foolish as to bomb huge sections of ireland in the hope of flushing them out. It would be counter productive, it would simply create more terrorism.
In the same way this strategy can't possibly ever fix the problem Israel has with its northern border. It will simply increase the terrorism, and decrease their security.
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